by Maia Starr
My plan was more clear to me now than it had ever been before. I would finish a ship. The best and most advanced ship the solar system had ever seen. And I wouldn’t give it to the Thressl’n government. No, it was far too corrupt. I would keep it for myself. And when it was finished, I would do what I should have done many yeas ago.
I would escape. And I would take Emily with me.
Chapter 9
Emily Hart (Director of Engineering)
It had been shocking to see Laike standing behind the burly Thressl’n man who had immediately declared that I was going to breed him a child, preferably a male child. Laike’s gentle voice had sent a thrill of ecstasy through me, as intense as it had been the first time I had felt him push inside of me.
It had left me frazzled and confused during our conversation. It had been tempting to just take his hand and let him lead me back to his comfortable little house, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. Everybody just wanted to abduct and mate with me. Who could I trust?
And to be honest, I wasn’t sure whether or not I want to be away from the camp of women. There was something so familiar about being in a room full of other women. I had never liked being around other people much before; my intelligence was apparently intimidating to them. Besides that, it wasn’t particularly easy to relate to others. I don’t know how Laike and I had managed to get on such friendly terms. Most of my relationships were one-sided and never led anywhere.
“Lain, when’s your hottie coming again? He missed the last visitor’s day!”
The tall woman who had led me to the camps had taken quite a liking to me, and since then I’d found out that her name was Heather. She was very jealous of my pairing with Laike, and I couldn’t blame her. The Thressl’n man assigned to her was barbaric.
“I don’t know,” I said, though I was wondering myself. I couldn’t keep my mind from wandering back to Laike, and the overpowering electricity that was sparked between us when he had visited the first time. I guess I had gotten comfortable with the idea that he would always come for me, but so far it seemed as if he had completely forgotten I’d existed. I hoped that he was all right.
“Well, he better get back soon. The mating dance is scheduled for next week.”
“The what?” I asked, unable to stifle a laugh.
Heather raised an eyebrow at me with a thin smile creasing her face.
“They seem to think that we need to be danced with before we will be ready to breed. Everything is guesswork with them right now. They want to ensure our fertility before actually engaging in anything sexual with us. They say it’s more efficient, but I get the feeling they’re just scared shitless of us.”
I grinned and shook my head, and Heather was summoned back to her bed by Jennai’k, who had been administering shots to us every week a few hours before the Thressl’n men came into the tents. That was a pretty good indication that it was a visitor’s day.
Sure enough, the Thressl’n men lined up one by one about three hours later, each of them standing in front of the woman he had been assigned to. Once again, I was disappointed by Laike’s absence. What could he possibly have been doing? He had asked me to trust him, but how could I when he wasn’t even there?
***
“Hey!”
I was startled from sleep by an urgent whisper. I opened my eyes and was surprised to find a group of three women crowded around my bed.
“What’s going on?” I asked, my heart racing in panic.
“We had a question,” the first woman said. She was stout and surly looking, with dark brown hair and dark eyes.
“Couldn’t it wait?” I wasn’t known for being a pleasant morning person; let alone being woken up in the middle of the night.
“No. We were talking about it, and we had to know.”
“Know what?”
“How’d you do it?”
“Do what?”
“You know. Escape and get you some low-ranking sugar daddy who leaves you the hell alone?”
I sighed. They still thought I was some woman named Lain who was supposed to have been an escape artist. I wondered what had happened to the real Lain, and if they were going to keep bothering me about it, I was half tempted to come clean to them.
“Could you just leave me alone? I’m trying to sleep.”
“This ain’t something that can wait,” a gritty woman’s voice said. She was tall and skinny, and her face was gaunt and angry. Her hair was thin and blonde, and I wondered what kind of tasteless Thressl’n jerk had chosen these women to abduct. They wouldn’t make good mothers of human children, let alone Thressl’n hybrids.
“Tell us what you know or you’re going to get it!” the third woman added.
I sighed and sat up, glaring at each of them.
“I got lucky, okay? Now just go to sleep!”
“So that’s how you wanna play it,” the stout leader of the group said, sneering and nodding at me. “We can play too. Come on, girls.”
They turned from my bed and walked away.
“Watch your back,” the third woman hissed.
I laid back down with my heart thudding hard in my chest. I had been stupid to think I might be safe in a camp full of women, even if they were my own kind. I wasn’t safe anywhere on this planet.
I closed my eyes and sighed. All I wanted was Laike. Where was he?
***
Another week passed without any sign of Laike. My whole body was burning with the desire to see him again. When it came time for the second visitor’s day of the week, I stayed seated glumly on my bed.
“Is that any way to greet your mate?”
Laike’s beautiful voice reached my ears, and my heart leaped in my chest. He smiled brightly at me as if nothing had ever happened.
“Where have you been?” I demanded, standing up to greet him.
“I have been very busy,” Laike said. “I had a lot of work to finish.”
“I’m sure it was much more important than me,” I sighed. The truth was that I had taken the fact that Laike was interested in me for granted all this time. Now that I saw it was possible he had lost interest, the weight of despair it made me feel was crushing.
“Nothing is more important than you,” Laike said, his eyes flashing darkly at me. “Look, I brought you something.”
I laughed when he pulled out a bouquet of strange flowers from behind his back and presented them proudly to me. I clutched them close to my breast and stared up into Laike’s handsome face. I wished I could just go home with him. But that wasn’t the way it was supposed to happen here. We weren’t allowed to leave until after the dance.
“I would like to ask you to accompany to the mating dance. It is the first in our planet’s history. I hear they have compiled an impressive collection of media for the event.”
I couldn’t be positive, but I was pretty sure that was Laike’s way of saying there would be good music.
A flush crept across my face when Laike bent down and stared deeply into my eyes.
“You must say you will go with me.”
I was glad that my trembling hands were concealed by the bouquet he had given me.
“Yes,” I finally whispered. “I will go.”
“Good,” Laike said, his handsome face pulling away from mine.
I was shocked by my crushing longing for him as he bowed to me and left without another word.
***
The whole camp was bustling as the Thressl’n women in charge did their best to supervise the construction of the dance. An entirely new tent had been constructed, far larger than the ones we lived in, and we had been ordered to make decorations and hang them.
To my surprise, Laike had been put in charge of doing the lighting for the event, and every once in a while he would catch my eye from across the room and smile. It would never fail to make my body respond, even though in my mind I couldn’t bring myself to accept it. It made sense. We had sex once, and now I was addicted to the danger. It didn’t mean I had feelings for Laik
e. I couldn’t. Not for someone who thought he could own me.
Still, the sparks between us couldn’t be denied. Even Heather had noticed, and raised her eyebrows suggestively. It was embarrassing, but my body had needs that I couldn’t deny. And right now, Laike was the object of them.
I needed to get away from him, get some air so that I could think straight.
“May I please go back to my bed? I have an idea for a decoration and would like to look at the fabric,” I lied, fixing pleading eyes upon Jennai’k.
She sighed.
“Fine.”
I ducked out of the tent, casting one last, secret look at Laike, who was bent over a device I could only assume was a speaker. He looked handsome from afar, especially when he was consumed in his own mind. He wasn’t trying to pretend that he was simpler than he was. He was fully in his element, and his element was sexy.
“Ugh,” I sighed, gripping the bridge of my nose as I tried to fight away the image of Laike.
“Oh no, the poor little princess is having a hard time working with her handyman.”
I groaned. The three women who had harassed me in my bed had cut off my descent to the camp. They were holding long metal rods that the Thressl’n had declared we use to cut shapes out of foam-like paper for decorations.
“What do you want from me?” I exclaimed. None of the Thressl’n women who ordinarily oversaw us were near enough to help me. That was probably just what they were counting on.
“I’ll take your man, for one!”
I cried out in surprise when a metal rod came flying at me. I dodged it just in time, but two more came at me and connected with sickening thuds.
“Cease!” Laike’s powerful voice thundered.
The women surrounding me all looked up in terror.
“If you harm a single follicle on my woman’s head, so help me, I’ll—”
Lake started menacingly toward the women, and suddenly Jennai’k was intervening.
“What is the trouble here, Laike?” she asked, her tone warning.
“These three are attempting to harm my female,” Laike said, his fists clenched into balls. The three women cowered together behind Jennai’k.
“Help us! He came at us for no reason!” one of them cried out.
Jennai’k’s face tightened, and she turned toward the women.
“I do not advise lies in this place,” she said darkly. The woman who had spoken paled. “There is a punishment suitable for you three. Come with me.”
A surge of satisfaction filled me as I watched Jennai’k lead the three women who had been harassing me away.
“Are you all right?” Laike asked, his hand gripping me lightly on the shoulder. My whole body buzzed in desire at his slightest touch, and I turned to face him. The sight of his handsome face so close to mine, with nobody else around to stop me, brought me to the edge of my self-control.
“Please,” I whispered. “Take me out of here.”
***
I followed Laike’s long strides through the foliage of the same forest I had fled from his home in, until he finally stopped in a small clearing.
“We can’t stay long,” he said, his face drawn. “The only way my plan will work is if you come home with me after the dance. Otherwise, they will ask questions.”
I didn’t care. I just wanted to be back at Laike’s house, with permission to be as close to him as I wanted to be whenever I wanted to be. Whether I could trust him or not was a different story. But what my body wanted wouldn’t change.
“Emily, I should tell you—”
But I didn’t want to hear it. I didn’t want to hear why he had been ignoring me. Why he had left me feeling as if I had been abandoned on this terrifying planet by the only man I wanted anything to do with. All I wanted was him.
“Laike,” I said, touching his broad face and staring into his eyes. “Just shut up.”
A muffled cry of surprise was cut short by my lips against his. Laike resisted for a moment before surrendering to my touch, his strong arms lifting me from the ground and holding me steady against his groin as we kissed. I could feel him growing hard against me, and a thrill filled my body.
All logical thoughts left my head as Laike’s hands roamed over me. It was exactly what I had been wanting for so long, and my body was on fire from every slight movement of his body against me.
“Are you sure?” Laike asked, breaking his mouth away from me and casting a worried look toward the camp.
“What did I tell you?”
“Shut up?” Laike answered, a sexy grin lighting his face.
I nodded, gasping in surprise when Laike’s mouth began tugging at my neck. Heat filled my body, and I pressed myself firmly against the mound of Laike’s groin. He swiftly stripped the undergarments off from under the gown that the Thressl’n women had demanded I wear in return for my tainted Earth clothes and I roamed my hand down his thigh to grope his member in my hands.
It was an impressive size, and I closed my eyes as I shuddered in pleasure. When I opened them again, Laike was smiling at me and warmth filled my breast. I wished so badly that I could give my all to him. But right now, all I could give him was my body. That would have to be enough, for the both of us.
I gasped as Laike’s member found its way against my middle, pressing gently into the most sensitive part of me. Pleasure coursed through my entire body as he worked his way inside of me, and soon I was filled with the hot pleasure of Laike’s member inside of me.
I gasped softly against his broad chest as he moved carefully inside of me. I could feel Laike’s gentle eyes on me as I pleasured myself against him. He was patient with my slow movements until my heavy breathing made him swell inside of me.
I could feel the tension of his self-restraint leaving his body. He kept up the slow pace for a few moments longer, but soon he was supporting me with one of his unbelievably strong arms. His thrusts began to penetrate me more swiftly, and my body exploded again and again with bursts of pleasure.
I wasn’t able to restrain myself any longer, and I could feel myself beginning to contract around Laike’s thick muscle as my climax began to build. I could feel every single inch of him as he moved himself inside of me, and my body writhed involuntarily as bliss consumed me again and again.
“You will be mine,” Laike said suddenly into my ear. The deep rumble of his voice unlocked something primal inside of me, and a sudden explosive orgasm shook me against his body. His immense muscles hardened against my body as his hot flood of pleasure filled me. I closed my eyes, relaxing fully against his body, trusting him to hold my weight as I allowed the ecstasy to consume me.
It was an oddly intimate moment, unlike any I had shared with anybody else before. Even after our orgasms had finished, Laike held me tenderly in his arms with our foreheads pressed against each other.
Finally, he lowered me gently to the ground.
“You should be returning before anybody sees that you are gone,” Laike said. The idea of parting with him suddenly felt suffocating. “But I promise you, I will return for you.”
His handsome face cast me a comforting smile, and then he was gone.
***
The night after seeing Laike was long and quiet, especially with the three aggressive women out of the tent. Heather had approached me to talk more about Laike; she seemed very taken with him, just as the other women had been, and it made me feel wary of her attention.
Most of our conversations revolved around Laike, and it was starting to get on my nerves. I had forgotten how petty and small-minded humans could be. Laike always seemed to have something higher on his mind than Earthlings had. It made it so much easier to talk to him.
When it was finally time for the dance to begin, I was surprised by the excitement bubbling in my breast. I would finally be able to get out of the camp and live with Laike without anybody else coming after me.
At least, that would be my ideal for the situation. Even though I would never be free so long as I remai
ned on this planet, at least I could be with someone who I understood.
“Earth females!” Jennai’k’s voice thundered through our tent. “Listen up!”
The excited chattering in the tent hushed at the sound of Jennai’k. She wasn’t particularly kind, and since the three women had been taken to the holding chambers in punishment, nobody wanted to cross her.
“The dance is about to commence,” she continued. “We have arranged outfits made of the finest Thressl’n cloth for you to wear tonight in honor of your mates. Those of you who wish to leave the camps with your mates are free to do so. Those who do not will face special circumstances upon return to your bunks. Choose wisely.”
Many of the women exchanged worried looks. It sounded as if we were being bullied into leaving the camps to make a home with the men assigned to us. I caught a glance at Heather across the room. She looked pale.
“Now, line up in front of your beds. The gowns will now be distributed.”
We all obeyed, and beautiful dresses, more exquisite than anything I had ever been allowed to touch on Earth, were handed to us one by one. We all dressed quickly; we knew enough by then to know that when we were given something, we were to put it to use immediately.
“Now,” Jennai’k said, with a broad smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “Follow me.”
Chapter 10
Laike Ostra’ki (Repair and Maintenance)
The day of the mating dance had finally arrived, and I cast a final glance at myself in the mirror. I was wearing my best suit, though I knew that compared to the other men who would be in attendance, I was going to look remarkably scruffy.
Most of the human females had been assigned to generals and commanders, like Zerk’k Arkti. These men were wealthy and were sure to look dazzling in their attire. Mine was second-hand from my deceased uncle, and its style had been out of use for several revolutions. But I had no choice. I was going to have to put myself on the line for ridicule. With Emily in mind, that was easy to do.
I drove to the camps on Mount Zennith and parked among some of the most elaborate hovercraft models. Several of them I was solely responsible for designing, and yet I would never be able to afford such a craft. It seemed criminally unfair.
